Eduardo González
The Senate plenary rejected this Wednesday, thanks to the dissenting votes of the People’s Party (PP), a motion presented by the PSOE urging the Senate to condemn the “genocide perpetrated” by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
The text also demanded an “unconditional and sustained” ceasefire and an end to the “illegal plans of occupation and annexation” of Palestine. It also called for an “end to the blockade” imposed by Israel on humanitarian aid in Gaza and the “immediate restoration” of international and humanitarian law.
The motion also expressed its “full support” for the recognition of the State of Palestine and the legitimacy of the Palestinian National Authority. It condemned the Hamas attacks of September 7, 2023, and urged the Palestinian terrorist group to release the hostages “immediately and unconditionally.” The text also supported the “leadership” exercised by Pedro Sánchez’s government within the EU regarding Gaza and the arms embargo approved by the executive branch against Israel.
Ultimately, the motion was rejected with 146 votes against and 112 in favor (out of a total of 259 votes cast), thanks to the absolute majority held by the People’s Party (PP) in the Senate. The main point of contention in the text was the use of the word “genocide,” a term that, to date, the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo has avoided when referring to Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
The debate
During the presentation of the text, Socialist Juan Espadas stated that the objective of the motion is to “raise our voices” alongside the “82 percent of Spanish citizens” who have described “the actions of the Israeli government as genocide” and to support “the Government of Spain in demanding an end to the massacre and condemning it.”
Espadas reiterated the government’s support for the peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, “as long as it accelerates the delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza, facilitates the release of hostages and prisoners, and, of course, prevents the annexation of territory and the displacement of Palestinians.”
“On May 28, this House approved a motion from my group calling on the Israeli government to end the humanitarian blockade. But if back then we were talking about more than 53,000 people killed in the Gaza Strip, today the figure exceeds 63,000, and nearly 20,000 of them are children,” he stated.
“What we see every day in the media does not allow for the lukewarmness or hesitation that you, I mean the senators of the Popular Party, have when it comes to condemning what the Israeli government is doing,” he continued. “With this motion, we are not here to raise a semantic issue, but rather a question of humanity toward the victims of Gaza. Our objective is to characterize these events as what they are, as the United Nations experts have stated, as genocide,” he warned.
In her response, Pilar Rojo, PP spokesperson on the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee, described the peace plan for Gaza as “news for hope,” “which the international community has welcomed and which, for the first time in a long time, makes us believe that a better, peaceful future is possible,” because, “as His Majesty King Felipe recently stated before the United Nations, we cannot remain silent or look the other way in the face of devastation, in the face of so many deaths among the civilian population.”
However, she stated that “more and more people, and not just the Popular Party, think that Pedro Sánchez is also using the Gaza issue to cover up his internal problems and that he cares little for the Gazans.”
“They are calling for an arms embargo on Israel, but only a little, because they immediately resort to exceptions when it represents, and I read this literally, a detriment to general national interests,” she continued.
Another example of this, she stated, is the flotilla heading to Gaza with humanitarian aid, which “until today they wanted to protect with a ship loaded with Israeli military weapons, in a mission on which not even the Foreign and Defense ministers have agreed.” According to Rojo, at the same time that José Manuel Albares (Foreign Affairs Minister) “warns Israel that he will respond to any action against the flotilla,” Margarita Robles (Defense Minister) “orders the (Navy ship) ‘Furor’ not to enter combat, even if Israel strafes Adela Colau’s flotilla.”
“Today there is a plan for Gaza on the table. European leaders and the international community have shown their support, but our country’s government is divided, making a statement because Sumar has already expressed its rejection,” she recalled. “International consensus demands a comprehensive response, and the European message is clear: the plan for Gaza is a realistic path that has achieved an unthinkable consensus. It is the position defended by Europe, the position defended by a broad representation of the international community, and the position of the People’s Party. Let’s hope this government achieves a unanimous position, that there is a national position, and that they demonstrate once and for all that they are up to the task,” she concluded.